Police officer who killed Tamir Rice quits West Virginia police job

The former Cleveland police officer who shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice in 2014 has resigned from the West Virginia police force. It is the third time in six years that he has left a small department shortly after being hired amid fierce backlash.

White Sulphur Springs city officials said Timothy Loehmann resigned from his position as a probationary officer Monday afternoon.

In a statement to WVVA-TV, Mayor Kathy Glover said Loehmann was hired on the recommendation of White Sulphur Springs Police Chief DS Teubert.

“Because this is an employment matter, I will not comment further,” Glover said.

It was not immediately clear how long Loehmann had been in police service.

Subodh Chandra, a Cleveland-based attorney for the Rice family, said while it was a relief that Loehmann was no longer a White Sulphur Springs police officer, “the police chief and all other officers involved in hiring him must be held accountable for the horrific decision made.”

A call to Teubert’s office went unanswered. The Associated Press left a phone message for Glover on Tuesday. Loehmann could not be reached, and an attorney who previously represented him was not immediately available for comment.

White Sulphur Springs is home to the upscale Greenbrier Resort in southeastern West Virginia on the Virginia border, owned by Republican Governor Jim Justice.

Rice, who was black, was playing with a pellet gun outside a Cleveland recreation center on Nov. 22, 2014, when he was shot by Loehmann, seconds after Loehmann and his partner arrived. The police officers, who are both white, told investigators that Loehmann yelled at Tamir three times to put his hands up.

The shooting sparked public protests against police treatment of black people, especially after a grand jury decided not to bring charges against Loehmann or his partner.

Cleveland reached a $6 million settlement with the city over Tamir’s death and eventually fired Loehmann for lying on his application for a police officer job.

Loehmann later received a part-time police job in the southeastern Ohio village of Bellaire in October 2018, but withdrew his application a few days later after Tamir’s mother, Samaria, and others criticized the hiring.

In July 2022, he was sworn in as the only police officer in Tioga – a community of about 600 residents in rural northern Pennsylvania, about 300 miles from Cleveland – but left the community without working a single shift amid fierce backlash and media coverage over his hiring.

Raby writes for the Associated Press.